Today’s New York Times broke my heart by informing me (can you believe it? — A Newspaper!) that while the electors in the Electoral College will vote tomorrow (Monday, December 19), we won’t actually know the results until January 6. Shit.

UPDATE!

I was wrong. I misunderstood. Perhaps I read the Russian rules.

Trump just now went over the 270 needed to become the 45th (and possibly last) President of the United States.

WE’RE OFFICIALLY SCREWED.

Now back to my original post which is now completely irrelevant:

Still, I want to take just one more opportunity to beg:

Dear Electors:

Please don’t let Donald Trump actually become President of the United States. He’s cray-cray. And could you possibly imagine listening to that 6th grade speaking style for 4 years? Not to mention the fact that he’s already pissed off most of Asia.

Oh and there is that whole bit about Russia interfering with our election.

Google Image

So please, please, vote carefully. Vote as if the future of the world is in your hands. Because it is.

Call the White House: Brief the Electoral College on Russia’s sabotage before December 19

The CIA has said that the Russian government sabotaged this election with the express purpose of aiding Donald Trump. Such foreign interference is exactly what the Founding Fathers feared when they set up the Electoral College—as a final buffer before electing the President of the United States.

Before the Electoral College meets on Monday December 19, President Obama must declassify any and all relevant intelligence to Russia’s interference—and officials must brief the electors before they make this decision.

Please call the White House at 1-855-999-1663 and leave this message to President Obama:

I am requesting that President Obama declassify any and all intelligence related to Russia’s interference of the presidential election—and to brief all members of the Electoral College before they meet on Monday, December 19.

Daily Kos wants you to let them know how it went. But frankly, I’m only asking you to make the one call to the White House.

Do I think this will work?

Do I think that enough electors will change their votes?

Do I think that Hillary will become president?

Sadly “No” is the answer to all of these.

But I don’t know about you, but I must speak up (while I still can). For all the things that are important to me that I yammer on about all the time on this blog.

Again and again — we all must speak up. It’s time to get used to using our loudest, most effective protest voices — not our inside voices. We’re going to be calling this number a whole lot in the next few years.

Image from IMBd. I’m pretty sure that Putin and his Pals are not the nice Russians that arrived on our shores in this 1968 movie. Positive.

Exactly five and a half years ago tonight, I was in a bit of a snit. A tiff. I was, in a word, miffed.

The result of those feelings was this blog. And in fact, it was the reason* for the stupid name. And my first post where I wrote:

Because I am fifty-four-and-a-half years old, the world is against me. The world would be treating me just fine, thank you very much, if I were just six months older. Read the news lately? Some folks in Congress want to change Medicare — starting with me. Starting with folks currently under 55. Am I the only fifty-four-and-a-half-year-old who is seriously pissed off about this?

Well today, I’m no longer 54-1/2. But I am not in a snit. A tiff. And I’m no longer miffed.

Today I’m mad as hell.

Did you see that Donald of the small hands plans to put this guy in charge of Health and Human Services? Congressman Tom Price (R (Suprise!)-GA).

Photo Image Credit: Gage Skidmore

Folks are lining up in opposition to Price. Not only will he piss me off by trying (and god help us, failing) to derail Medicare, but as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, he is the author of the House bills to repeal Obamacare. He is adamantly opposed to abortion in all cases. He opposes including provisions in Medicaid to permit low income women to afford birth control. He’s probably in favor of hangers.

Here is Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly’s comment opposing Price:

Tom Price has led the charge to privatize Medicare, and for this reason, I cannot support his nomination. I am ready to work with anyone who wants to improve access to quality health care for Hoosier families and seniors, but the nomination of Tom Price would put us on a direct path to end Medicare as we know it, which would raise health care costs and break a fundamental promise to seniors. I have fought to protect Medicare, and I will continue to oppose efforts to privatize Medicare or turn it into a voucher program.

I, personally, will do what I can. Because I really do fear that before long, this is what Trumpcare will look like:

*Shortly after starting the blog with the stupid name, I realized that 54-1/2 was the average age my two late sisters reached. I kept the name because, as the “sick” member of the family, it reminds me that really, every day is a gift.

I’ll continue to believe that. Until, of course, I am an old Crohn’s patient whose Medicare has been taken away. Then I will — literally — poop all over Congress and Donald Trump.

Did you hear about Trump’s kerfuffle with NBC news? At the meeting King Donald held last week with the heads of the networks, Trump harangued NBC News for using unflattering pictures of him. Like this picture of him. Which he hates.

This year I feel incredibly lucky at Thanksgiving. Nobody at my feast will have voted for Donald Trump.

Nobody.

And they will all be relatives.

Didn’t I tell you that I’m lucky? It’s true — I will gladly spend then next two days cooking for them.

But I know that not everybody is as lucky as me. I feel your pain, I really do. One of my brothers voted for Trump, as did a nephew and, I’m pretty sure, a great nephew. But none of them are coming — they don’t usually come so I did not banish them.

It’s hard to talk to folks about this election and why we feel so strongly that the wrong side won.

It’s hard to talk about this election and not place all Trump voters into Hillary’s stupid basket of deplorables.

It’s hard to talk about this election to Trump voters and not slap them upside the head for being stupid, for placing our democracy at risk, for threatening the future of the planet either by a Trump tiff or by his unwillingness to accept that climate change is real and to do something about it.

For those of you who need assistance, I give you this video — with a shout-out to my friend Karen:

As if we needed reminders. As if you couldn’t imagine this sort of thing happen. In case you need to show the difference in the two parties.

Show ’em this.

J.J. Holmes has severe cerebral palsy. He is 12 and is confined to a wheel chair.

On Saturday, his mother took him to a Trump rally, where he wanted to protest Trump’s treatment of folks with disabilities. So they raised a Hillary placard. And they were thrown out.

According to one report I read:

This is truly disturbing to me … What I witnessed while covering a Trump rally today. Wheelchair-bound JJ Holmes, 12, who has cerebral palsy, and his family were ordered out of Saturday’s Trump rally by Trump after they chanted for Hillary Clinton. JJ begged his mom, Alison, to travel over two hours so he could attend. JJ begged his mom, Alison, to travel over two hours so he could attend. Unable to speak, JJ communicates through a special device similar to Stephen Hawkings. JJ is passionate about politics and concerned about the future of all humans but especially those with disabilites. Alison said the family was kicked by Trump supporters and had to shield JJ’s wheelchair as Trump supporters gathered to push JJ’s wheelchair out of their space. Alison was called a child abuser and a murderer. This is just so, so sad! Tears are burning my eyeballs but then I look at JJ smiling afterwards when he asked his mom if she is proud of him.

Trump himself ordered the boy and his mother to be thrown out of the rally. His deplorable supporters taunted them on the way out. Taunting a disabled child? The lowest of the low.

That’s not exactly how the Democrats acted.

Instead, J.J. and his family got to meet President Obama.

Attribution: Valentina Pereda on Facebook (via Daily kos)

Since Hillary started her advocacy working to get disabled students admitted to school, I’m pretty sure s he’s good with Obama supporting her on this one.

Trump’s supporters were kicking at JJ’s wheelchair. What sort of people do that?

Oh yeah. Deplorable ones.

*****

Don’t be confused by the second half of my title. I don’t think that Hillary IS chicken. Nope, not a bit.

But she DOES makes a fine chicken dish that made it into the 1987 Congressional Club Cookbook, which has recipes from all sorts of congress members, their spouses, governors and their spouses. Both Bill and Hillary have recipes in it, befitting the first power couple — both cook.